Bristol City legend Brian Tinnion has been promoted to Technical Director of the club and will oversee player recruitment as part of his new role.
Tinnion will combine his new position with continuing his fine work in leading City's superb academy and helping forge a pathway from the youth team to Nigel Pearson's first-team plans.
Speaking of his promotion, the 54-year-old told the club: "This is a chance for all parts of the club to ensure that our recruitment at every level achieves what we all want, which is a successful Bristol City first team. We have highly dedicated and skilled staff with first-class facilities and I’m grateful to be able to work with them for a club I am passionate about.”
Chairman Jon Lansdown added: “Brian is and continues to be a key part of the football club. His appointment will enable us to further strengthen relationships across the club and wider football world, where he is highly-regarded and respected.
"Integrating academy players into the first team is an important element in our recruitment strategy and, as we are now seeing, we have a number of talented young players coming through the system. Brian will work side by side with the first team and the academy staff to ensure that the recruitment and development of players gives us the best possible opportunity for success.”
Tinnion was linked with the vacant director of football position at League One Forest Green Rovers last month as they searched for a replacement for Rich Hughes.
Bristol Live can reveal he rejected the chance to speak with the League One club with unfinished business to attend to in BS3. Tinnion has played a hugely influential role in the development of many youngsters coming through the academy - many of which are first-team players under Pearson.
His close relationship with Guernsey manager Tony Vance was key in signing Alex Scott in 2019 while he also played a key role in recruiting Antoine Semenyo from SGS College.
City's academy has been lauded for its quality and the continuous crop of talent coming through the ranks. That is evident this season with the Under-21 side top of their development league including a 5-0 victory over Watford on Tuesday.
Joe Low became the 10th academy graduate to represent the first-team this season when he was introduced in the 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough. A further five players are out on loan including Ryley Towler, Owura Edwards and James Taylor.
Tinnion was initially appointed director of youth recruitment before becoming loans manager and head of the club's academy. Before that, he made 551 appearances for City from 1993-2005 - putting him fourth on the all-time list - before replacing Danny Wilson as manager in 2004.
During the recent fans forum at the Hen & Chicken pub in Southville, CEO Richard Gould was asked whether his impending departure as chief executive would provide the opportunity for restructure at the club.
He responded: "I think it does give an opportunity for the club to see how it’s best going forward. When you look at so many clubs have a different way of operating, whether it’s a technical director or a director of football, executive chairman.
"There’s all sort of ways we go about our business, but it’s important we do have that continuity as Nigel’s alluded to, you can just feel and sense the progress behind the scenes."
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
